Washington — Tension over confirming President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees erupted late on Tuesday in the US Senate, where a legislator’s criticism of attorney-general pick Jeff Sessions led to the very rare reprimand of a senator. Senate Democrat Elizabeth Warren was told to sit down for reading a 1986 letter critical of Sessions written by Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The chamber’s Republican leader Mitch McConnell interrupted Warren to accuse her of having "impugned" Sessions, a fellow senator. "The senator has impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama, as warned by the chair," McConnell said, taking the extraordinary step of invoking senate rule 19 that prohibits highly critical remarks against a fellow senator. "The senator will take her seat," said the presiding officer, senator Steven Daines. When Warren challenged the ruling, the senate voted along party lines to uphold it. It was a rare and powerful r...

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